


April Fools'...?

by sky_fish



Series: Early Works 2012-2014 (unedited) [3]
Category: NEWS (Japan Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-06
Updated: 2012-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25596886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fish/pseuds/sky_fish
Summary: Years ago, Shige and the other members of NEWS made an April Fools' of Koyama by telling him, Yamapi would leave the group. Now, he and Ryo really leave NEWS and Koyama has a hard time when he realizes that it's not a joke this time and that the one he has fallen in love with for such a long time will leave him and the band for real.
Relationships: Kato Shigeaki/Koyama Keiichiro
Series: Early Works 2012-2014 (unedited) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828948





	April Fools'...?

On the day, Yamapi and Ryo announced to their bandmates, that they planned to leave NEWS, for Koyama, there was a world crashing down. And that broke Shige's heart.

Shige knew about Koyama's feelings towards Yamapi, he knew everything about Koyama, for such a long time. The young man had told him about his secret crush – only him. And so, Shige was the only one who knew Koyama's real feelings when the boy congratulated Yamapi to his solo-career with a big smile, patted Ryo's back and wished him good luck for his career with Kanjani8 and finally left the room hastily, excusing himself to get a fresh bottle of water. Of course, Shige, Massu and Tegoshi didn't feel like celebrating, either but for sure, the news had hit Koyama the most. After Shige exchanged a few words of congratulations with Yamapi and Ryo, he left as well. He wanted to look for Koyama and make sure that he was OK.

He already expected not to find him at the vending machine and neither on the balcony for getting a bit of fresh air. So he tried to find him in the men's room.

"Kei-chan? Are you here?“ Shige asked after pushing the door to the wash room open. He listened, trying to figure out if his friend was here.

"Kei?“ he repeated but no one answered. The cabins were all empty – all except one. Shige crouched and recognized Koyama's shoes. He took a few steps towards the last cabin and quietly knocked on its door.

"Kei-chan? Are you OK?“ he asked in a whispering voice and leaned against the cabin's door. "Come on out...“

It took a while but then Koyama unlocked the door. He obviously avoided looking at Shige directly when he left the cabin and went towards the sink to clean his hands. At this, he took the chance and washed his face too. As he shot a short glimpse into the mirror, Shige noticed Koyama's red shot eyes. Shige sighed. As he already had frightened – Koyama had cried. Shige stepped towards his bandmate and carefully touched his shoulder to make him turn around. Koyama's eyes focused on the floor again as if he tried to avoid showing his friend the crying marks on his face.

"Come here," Shige whispered and gave Koyama a hug. 

He could feel Koyama's body giving in at this moment. The taller man buried his face at Shige's shoulder and buried his fingers into the back of his buddy's shirt. There was a desperate sobbing and a few tears wetted the fabric of Shige's shirt. The young man lifted his hand and slowly brushed it over Koyama's head. 

"It's OK...,“ he whispered into Koyama's ear.

Shige sighed again. He felt pity for Koyama. The young man was really emotional. He had never been able to cope well when a member of NEWS left the group. And this time, there was the fact that Yamapi meant so much to Koyama, too. Even if the young man was hiding his feelings – especially from Yamapi.

"Shige,“ Koyama murmured as his sobbing decreased, "this time it's no joke, right? It's real...“

Shige bit his lower lip and nodded. A further heartbreaking sobbing followed and Koyama nearly seemed to break down in Shige's arms. Yes, this time it wasn't a joke, Shige thought and it felt like someone stabbed in his heart. He could remember the time when he frightened his friend nearly to death a few years ago, very well. He and the other members of NEWS made an Aprils' Fool out of Koyama and sent him a text message which read that Yamapi would leave the group. At that time, Koyama had been so shocked and crushed about this news, that Shige regretted immediately that he had played with such a bad joke on his friend. Especially because he had been the one who sent the text message and even worse – he had been the one with this silly idea.

Back then, Shige hadn't known about Koyama's feelings towards Yamapi. And he totally had expected his friend to get the joke but after exchanging a few more text messages, it turned out that Koyama had taken it very seriously. In the end, Shige had not been able to stand it any longer so he had called Koyama to tell him the truth. It had nearly broken his heart as he heard how relieved Koyama was about realizing that the other boys had only been trying to fool him. Since then, Shige had sworn to himself that he would never play such a dirty trick on Koyama.

A short time after that incident, Koyama had told Shige about his crush on Yamapi. But in fact, the young man did not have to tell his best friend. Since the other had spent the last months caring about Koyama even more than usual (and finally falling in love with him), he had already been aware of Koyama's interest towards their bandmate. It was OK for him, as long as he could see Koyama's heart-lightening smile, even if it was not meant to be his but Yamapi's.

"Kei-chan, you want to go back to the others? They plan to grab some dinner and... celebrate a little bit. Hey, at least you're NEWS' new leader now!" Shige tried to cheer his friend up. But as expected, Koyama didn't feel like going out with the others. 

"Leader, me...," Koyama forced himself to a short laughter. Shige signed as he realized the ironic tone in Koyama's voice. "THAT must be the real joke.“

Shige loosened their embrace and pushed Koyama back a little, so that he could face him properly. The other man looked quite surprised. His eyes were still red and swollen. Shige gave him a mad look.

"You immediately stop talking such crap!" he began, shook Koyama's shoulders slightly, "You really should be more confident! You will be a great leader and NEWS will be even better and more interesting than ever before! We don't need Ryo or Yamapi for being a great group, OK?" 

Shige knew Koyama's thoughts. He had known them a few years ago and he knew them now. Koyama was absolutely not confident. He was insecure and used to played this over with jokes and laughing about himself. But Shige was able to look through that, every time. He could see it in Koyama's eyes and he could hear it in his voice.

"Oh Shige," Koyama sighed. He bit on his lips and continued studying the floor's pattern.

"I know this must be quite a shock for you and there will be changes for sure. Maybe it will be hard in the beginning but I'm sure our fans won't stop supporting us. Trust me!" Shige continued. 

He was convinced that the situation would be like this. Of course, he was a little afraid about the future of NEWS too but he didn't want to see Koyama crushed like this, any longer.

After Shige loosened his grip on Koyama's shoulders, he reached one hand to the man's face and softly lifted his band mate's chin so that Koyama was forced to look directly at Shige.

"We can do this together, right?" Shige looked deeply into Koyama's sad eyes. 

The taller one tried to smile at his friend but he really messed up.

"Shige, I'd like to go home now. I have to... I don't want to stay here," he finally said and stroke through his hair nervously.

"OK. I'll give you a ride home," Shige replied. He smiled at Koyama who nodded thankfully.

\------

During the drive, both of them did not talk a single word. Shige was the driver and focusing on the traffic while Koyama was looking out of the window, lost in thoughts. He must be really struggling with the day's incidents. Understandably, it was still hard to process that Ryo and Yamapi would leave the group for real.

Thinking about it though, maybe it wasn't such a big surprise, after all. Ryo had been stressed more and more, recently. He had to cope with the double amount of group activities and then there were his acting jobs as well. It should have been foreseeable that he would have to choose between NEWS and Kanjani8 one day. But nevertheless it had been quite a shock for Koyama that Ryo had really chosen Kanjani8 over NEWS. He could understand his decision but he also felt hurt and blamed himself for not being good enough with NEWS. Otherwise, Ryo would have chosen them to stay with, after all, right?

And in Yamapi's case it was also understandable that he wanted to concentrate on his solo-career. He had been really popular for a long time now and if he didn't take the chance to try a career by himself, now, who knew if that chance would present itself ever again. Maybe Koyama would have made the same decision if he had been in Yamapi's shoes. But nevertheless, Koyama couldn't stop thinking of having lost. He and the other members must have been not good enough to keep the young man wanting to continue their career together. Yamapi chose to leave the group voluntarily, not like for example Uchi, years ago, who had not had a choice. Probably, that was the reason why Koyama felt betrayed by his friend. He sighed, wishing that the situation would be different.

He really did not want to lose Yamapi. Not only because he was afraid that NEWS would not be that popular any longer without the young man, but even because it was a really frightening idea to him, not being able to see Yamapi that often anymore in the future. After all, he had fallen in love with his bandmate years ago, even if he only watched and loved him from the side rows and even if Shige was the only one who knew about Koyama's secret. Up to now, due to all of their jobs, the bandmates had been able to meet several times a week and now, Yamapi wouldn't be part of this any longer? He would never join dance practice again, when the boys had to learn a new chromatography for their concerts, he would never join photo shoots and recording sessions in the studio? Imagining that kind of future made Koyama unbelievably sad.

Suddenly, Shige's phone rang and the driver picked up via the car's phone system, immediately.

"Yes? Ah, Tegoshi, it's you... No, we are not joining. Kei-chan is'nt feeling well so I'm giving him a ride home... Yeah, I know, I don't have to pick up the phone while driving but I'm using the phone system so it should be fine... OK, maybe I'll join you later on. OK, so long, greetings to the others! Bye.“ 

\------

It didn't last long until they arrived at Koyama's apartment. Shige parked the car to let Koyama get off, but Koyama didn't move. Instead, he sighed once more. Shige bent forward towards Koyama and put his hand on his band mate’s shoulder. Koyama took a deep breath before he gave Shige a desperate look.

"I... could do some cooking for us. I mean, aren't you hungry too?" he finally asked. “Or would you rather join the others? I won't hold you back.”

Shige smiled. Despite his words, he could feel that right now, Koyama didn't want to be alone and Shige could really understand why. He even had had the idea of offering his buddy to stay for a while. It wouldn't be good for Koyama if he was all by himself this evening. All by himself, looked into his apartment, with all of his negative thoughts. And since both of them were not in the mood for celebrating and eating with the others, they should think about other dinner plans.

"No, it's fine, that's a great idea," Shige replied. "Could you make your popular pasta with tomato sauce?“

Koyama chuckled. "OK, sure.“

The young men left the car and went up the stairs of the apartment complex. Koyama unlocked the door to his apartment and turned on the lights. After he and his guest had taken off their shoes and jackets, he headed directly into the kitchen and immediately started searching for the right cooking pots and pans.

"Feel like home, you can sit on the couch or something, Shige. Ah, would you like something to drink?" 

"No, thank you, I don't need anything," Shige replied.

He looked around the living room. It had been a while since his last visit at Koyama's apartment but everything was in it's right place like always. On the couch there was a comfortable blanket into which Koyama used to wrap himself for watching TV-series and falling asleep while watching. On the glass coffee table there were a few manga volumes spread over the actual TV-magazine and like everywhere else in the apartment, the shelves and walls were filled with framed photographs.

Photographs of Koyama's family but also a huge amount of pictures of Koyama and his friend – most of them with members of NEWS. Nobody could ignore how much the band meant to Koyama. For him, NEWS wasn't only a job. It was his life. Shige and the others meant it like this too but Koyama's feelings were even more intense. He was extremely passionate about the band and about the friendship between the members. Shige felt really sorry for Koyama. The young man decided to help Koyama overcome his shock and to make him understand that even without Ryo and Yamapi they would be popular and of course, he wanted Koyama to realize that he wasn't just good for nothing, like the man often used to think. The group needed him. Now, more than ever.

In fact, when it came to Shige, Koyama was incredible. He was sensible, a good friend, smart and funny. He was talented and charismatic. Not only Shige was aware of that, everyone knew, except Koyama himself. But why wasn't his friend more confident about himself? Maybe because of his unrequited love towards Yamapi? Shige sighed. He caught himself looking at a picture of Koyama and Yamapi which had been taken at Koyama's last birthday party. Koyama was all smiles on that picture. Shige loved that cute smile but besides love, there was more – jealousy. And anger. Anger towards Yamapi. Anger because Yamapi left the group and made Koyama so sad. Anger towards himself for knowing so well how it felt to think not being good enough for something. Or someone. 

"Ah, SHIT!" there was Koyama's voice from the kitchen, a loud sound of crashing cooking pots followed.

"Kei-chan! Are you all right?!" 

Shige jumped up and rushed to his buddy. Koyama was holding his hand with a painful face. He seemed to have burned his hand while trying to hold one of the cooking pots, which then had fallen to the floor, spreading all of the ready cooked noodles. Shige reacted very fast and grabbed Koyama at his elbow to guide him to the sink. He turned on the cold water to hold Koyama's hurt hand under the yet of water.

"What are you doing again, idiot?" Shige scolded his band mate. 

Koyama bit his lips and seemed to fight his tears. The burn did not look that serious but it must hurt like hell.

"I know, I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for ruining our dinner," Koyama murmured. Finally, a few tears dropped down his eyes and ran over his cheeks. "I'm no good. I'm not even good enough for cooking some stupid pasta with tomato sauce.“

Shige struggled to hold himself back from yelling at Koyama that he had to stop putting himself down, immediately. Instead, he ran into the bathroom where he grabbed the first aid kit from the closet. Everyone knew where to find the first aid bandages, since Koyama often was an air head and happened to hurt himself accidentally, quite often. Shige searched for a gauze bandage and the ointment and returned to Koyama, where the young man was still holding his hand under the cold water. Carefully, Shige took Koyama's hand, dried it with a paper tissue and started to gently apply crème on his hand. Once he had finished, Koyama smiled at him, thankfully.

Then Shige cut another topic that burned his soul. "Tell me, Kei-chan, what do you want do now?“

Koyama bent down to pick up the cooking pot and the spoilt noodles and cleaned up his mess. He filled the cooking pot with fresh water and placed it onto the hotplate again. 

"I have to cook new pasta, what else?“

Shige ran his hand through his hair and laughed. It wasn't easy to ask Koyama what he actually wanted to ask and his nervous heart was beating faster and faster.

"Not that, you idiot, I mean... because of Yamapi. If he leaves the group now, don't you want to at least tell him about your feelings?“

Koyama stopped in the middle of his movement as he wanted to put a new bundle of spaghetti into the cooking water. He chuckled and turned around to Shige, looking at him with sad eyes. 

"No, what would that be good for? I know that I don't have a chance. He is totally not into guys. He shouldn't know about this. I just have to overcome these feelings.... I just don't know how...“

Koyama put the spaghetti into the hot water and focused on tasting the tomato sauce which was still cooking in a pan on the hotplate next to the cooking pot. He reached for the salt and some herbs to add more flavouring.

Finally, Shige couldn't stand it any longer. He touched Koyama's unharmed hand, took it into his own and pressed it gently. 

"I want to help you with that," he murmured.

"What?" 

Surprised, Koyama turned around to Shige, as he felt the slight pressure at his hand and looked at him, wondering, until Shige pulled Koyama closer and placed his other hand on Koyama's cheek.

With a piercing look, Shige looked into Koyama's eyes. He caressed his cheek, then he slid his hand to Koyama's neck. Even before Koyama knew what happened, Shige had surpassed the left space between them. He gently pulled Koyama towards him and finally placed his lips onto the taller one's. Shige's heart was beating like crazy and he feared, Koyama could push him away or yell at him but he knew that he would have gone insane if he hadn't done this now.

Koyama was too shocked to react, anyway. Eventually, Shige ended the kiss and looked at this friend. He smiled, crookedly. 

"I love you, Kei-chan," he whispered.

"Shige...," finally Koyama seemed to have found his speech again. "What? You... but I," he stuttered.

"I know," Shige laid his finger against Koyama's lips and came towards his face again. "I know that you love Yamapi but please, I'm serious. Let me help you forget him," the young man said and kissed his bandmate again.

This time, Koyama was prepared and even if his heart was confused and even if he was totally not sure if he was doing the right thing, he let the kiss happen. Shige's lips felt unbelievably soft and his kiss was so full of love and passion that Koyama's knees nearly gave in. Shige buried his hands into Koyama's hair, pulled the young man closer and deepened their kiss. Now, at the latest, Koyama totally devoted to the kiss as well. It felt so good... he felt treasured, loved, a feeling that he had not felt in quite a long time. 

So, Shige loved him. Why had he never noticed? Was it because his own feelings had been focused onto Yamapi, that he had been so blind towards his best friend's feelings?

Suddenly, Koyama felt extremely guilty. He let go of Shige's lips, who protested and looked at him, curiously. Koyama let his hands rest on Shige's hips. What was he even thinking? How could he take advantage of Shige's love like that? Only because of his unlucky love? That wasn't fair and he didn't want to hurt Shige.

"Listen, are you sure about this? I don't want to _use_ you, Shige," Koyama said, looking to the floor, feeling guilty. 

Shige laughed. That was so typical. He embraced Koyama's face with his hands and forced him to look right into his eyes.

"I know what I'm doing, silly... I don't ask you to fall in love with me, I just want to comfort you, you know? I can't stand seeing you that sad, it breaks my heart, so let me try make you feel better, OK? You don't have to do anything that you don't want to, of course but please... forget your sorrow. Just for today." 

Shige smiled at Koyama, love in his eyes. He gently kissed his cheeks and his lips, all over again. Then, he gave him a questioned look.

"Shige, you are so nice to me, I don't deserve this," Koyama whispered.

"Stop talking such crap, Kei-chan, you're such a wonderful person. You deserve the world, so please let me be just a small part of it," Shige said. 

They kissed again. After a few minutes Koyama left Shige's lips again. His cheeks were red and his eyes shining.

"Uhm, I think, dinner's ready," Koyama said with a smirk. 

Shige replied with his own smile before he let go off Koyama.

"So, serve your delicious pasta, Chef," he joked. 

He turned around and took two plates out of Koyama's kitchen closet, grabbed two forks and spoons out of the drawer and went into the dining room. 

"Don't forget to put on oven gloves this time before you grab the noodles!“

Koyama felt caught and did how Shige ordered. He clipped two table mats under his arm and left the kitchen, the cooking pot with the noodles in one, the pan with the tomato sauce in the other hand. While Shige was arranging the pasta onto the plates, Koyama went back into the kitchen to fetch a package of parmesan cheese to top everything of, and to get a bottle of good wine. He showed it to Shige and smiled at him.

"You don't have to drive tonight, do you?" he asked, pouring some of the wine into his glass.

"No, not if you don't put me out on the street," Shige replied with a smirk.

Both of them really enjoyed their dinner. Shige complimented Koyama's cooking skills and they talked about everything that came to their minds while they were killing the bottle of wine. Later on they moved onto Koyama's couch, watched TV-Shows for a few hours and flipped through some of Koyama's manga volumes, laughing. And when the things to talk about got fewer and they shuffled closer to each other, it didn't last long until they were lost in deep kisses, again.

Of course, Koyama did not put Shige out on the street that night. And the first bottle of wine was not the last one. And even if Koyama had not considered it possible, he managed to forget Yamapi and his sorrow at least for a short time. And maybe, with Shige's help and Shige's love, he would be able to overcome his unrequited love sooner than he might have expected.

THE END


End file.
